Chicken bald back

[Monica+Ellie]

Ricky Whittle to winn!!!

Haven't seen much of him..love him in hollyoaks, and as Joe has disapointed- Ricky all the way.

I was looking out all night for him; and he's not even on till next week

Or Ali, cause I'm also a 'Bill' fan- wan't Ricky to win more though

 

Anyone agree with me?

or am I on my own

[Seagazer]

Whats the name of the Eastender chap? Thought he put in a really good 'effort' on his latin and he had some good moves. He was also entertaining

[Peaches]

I enjoyed him too - what with his "swallowing golf balls" impersonation! Not sure of his name, but think he's a soap star.

 

Totally, totally miss Arlene - when she passed judgement you could really feel her years of experience behind it. Loved Alisha when she was dancing, but she seemed out of her depth as a judge - didn't say anything particularly enlightening at all.

 

Putting in Alisha seems to have also knocked off the balance of the other 3 judges who were all comfortable in their roles when Arlene was there - last night they were taking over some of Arlene's technical/dance comments to address the balance. The mix is all wrong now.

 

Shame.

[jlo]

 

My OH would love everyone to keep voting for Chris Hollins so that Ola can stay in the competition longer

 

 

 

My OH would be in total agreement with that sentiment!

 

On the judging front, I never really liked Arlene even though I appreciated that her knowledge was immense. Sadly, I have to agree with the other comments about Alesha. She seems a lovely girl but it is impossible to take her seriously as a judge - and the other judges aren't able to either!

[Griffin]

I'm going to stick up for Alesha. I absolutely hated Arlene, couldn't stand all the cliches she'd spout and I certainly don't miss her. I'm sure if we looked back to the very first episode of series one the judges performances were not as good as they are now. It was Aleshas first attempt, and for her first go I thought she did alright.

 

I do love a good conspiracy theory though. I don't believe the BBC were being ageist in getting rid of Arlene. They're cutting costs all over the place and this series of Strictly is, they hope, going to cost 1/3 less than the last series. I expect it's cheaper to hire Alesha as a judge than it is Arlene. I was curious to see how fairly Alesha would treat her old dance partner Matthew Cutler. It then came as no surprise that last night when he was in the dance off she voted for him. Now he's out of the competition, leaving him a lot of free time, time perhaps he'll spend with Alesha making sure that she knows exactly what she's supposed to be looking for in each dance each week. That way she's not going to come across as a vacant numpty. It's all very convenient

[The Dogmother]

I managed to miss most of it - Rosie and Phil watched though. Phil loved Ola's dress (needless to say )

[chickencam]

I wasn't a fan of Arlene, she was all over the men and mean to the ladies, but I am not sure Alesha is right for the jo either.

 

Did I gather that Darcy Bussel is to take over from her from the quarter final stage?

[Cinnamon]

Phil loved Ola's dress (needless to say )

 

Dress?

What dress??? (Brian liked it too )

 

I haven't looked at this thread much in case of spoilers,but treated myself to a Strictly evening & have now come on to share my thoughts.

 

Joe should have gone IMHO - he was awful & Martina was much better than him.

 

Am quite enjoying Alesha actually, & think she has nice positive comments,without being too full on about it. She will improve,I am sure.

 

Lovely to have it on Sky, so I can skip through Bloomin Brucie & his dire attempts at humour

 

Ians bum is looking fiiiiiiiiine again this season

[susanbb]

I'm sure Alesha will improve in time. Could just have been nerves which is only natural.

[The Dogmother]

Phil loved Ola's dress (needless to say )

 

Dress?

What dress??? (Brian liked it too )

 

From what I saw, it was a bikini held together by a couple of hankies - she really does have a stunning figure!

[MedusA]

I know hardly any of the "celebrities" theis year, but then again, Tom was my favourite last year and I didn't know who he was either. I think the relationship between celebrities and the viewers builds over the weeks anyway, so it doesn't matter who you knew before.

 

I thought Ali and Brian and Chris and Ola were the shining lights of the first group. Joe was so wooden and obviously got the sympathy/sergeant vote.

 

Ola's "dress" was a feat of engineering but stunning nevertheless.

 

I think Alesha is a very sweet girl and loved her when she danced. I'll reserve judgement about her ability to score the dancers until the competition is a bit further on. I thought she did quite a good job of defending herself and her credentials on "It Takes Two".

 

The highlight of the weekend for me was the reprise of Tom and Camilla's show dance.

[Griffin]

I hated their show dance

[chickencam]

I loved it

 

only 5 minutes to go until the second lot of couples start dancing

[susanbb]

Really liked Anton and Leila. He may well be lucky this year

 

Also, wasn't Phil Tufnell the biz

[chickencam]

Phil was such a surprise, I'm not his biggest fan as a rule but he danced really well. Ricky was it at the end? He was great, what kind of marks would he have got if he hadn't slipped.

 

The standard this week was amazing, can't wait for more tomorrow.

 

Aleisha was so much better tonight too, much more sensible and constructive, she must have been pretty nervous last week and she has taken the critisism and worked with it much as she did with her dancing.

[Seagazer]

I thought Aleisha was much better this week too.

 

Loved Phil, Laila and Ricky. Thought Ricky's partner's dress was realy pretty too.

 

Its funny my SIL and I text each other with comments through the programme too. We've obviously known each other too long (she was in year above me at secondary school) as we always think the same thing!

[Griffin]

I'm really pleased that Richard Dunwoody wasn't as bad as I thought he would be and I'm glad he wasn't bottom of the scoreboard I'm at work tonight when it's on so I'm hoping for no customers because I want to watch it in peace

[Monica+Ellie]

Ricky Whittle lived up to expectations!!!!!

Ricky to win

[susanbb]

Who was in the bottom two and who has left the dancefloor please

[iar fach goch]

Richard Dunwoody has gone, it was between him and that bloke (Craig?) off Coronation Street.

[susanbb]

Bet it's still about how popular the celebs are in the first few weeks.

 

Think Alesha was a bit more constructive this week

[Couperwife]

i thought Alesha was better this week, she actully seemed to speak sense, rather than "that was good, I enjoyed it" maybe last week was just first show nerves.

 

I enjoyed tonights, but didnt see last night,

 

I didnt think much of Jo Wood though maybe it was just me.

 

cathy

x

[Plum]

Alesha was totally unconvincing for me when she spoke of the technicalities of dancing. In my view she just hasn't the experience to make those judgements. What I think she should do is discuss the presentation and dramatics and interpretation things she knows about and her comments would be credible and add to the show.

 

Loved all the dancers, its starting yeh. Brendon was priceless as usual and gets better each time.

[Seagazer]

I thought it should have been between Jo and Richard, she seems too embarrassed to be dancing and although she's not as bad as say Fiona or Kate is just made me feel a bit uncomfortable for her.

 

Loved Zoe and James' rhumba, I think they have great chemistry together but my favourite is Ricky, he moved so well I thought in his rhumba which is always hard for a male celebrity.

[chickencam]

The standard this year is so high, next week will be great and very close I think.